


Juno Steel and the Golden Dancer

by Winterling42



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Case Fic, Classical Sci-Fi, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, Screenplay/Script Format
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 23:42:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14248347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterling42/pseuds/Winterling42
Summary: Juno's back in Hyperion City, but he's not taking cases. Not after what happened when he worked for Ramses O'Flaherty. Still, when a famous dancer picks his office lock and asks for help...what's a detective to do?Deirdre Harris is a character lifted directly from CL Moore's "No Woman Born," which I read for a Women in Science Fiction class in college. Hell yeah.





	Juno Steel and the Golden Dancer

A BELL RINGS. THE DOOR OPENS.

JUNO (NARRATOR): There’s always something to see in Hyperion City. It’s not that the city never sleeps, so much as the stuff that happens during the day is just as crazy as the dreams. My name’s Juno Steel, and I was just about to become part of the crazy. Whether I wanted to or not.

Crazy walked into my office at 2 o’clock on a Monday afternoon, two months after the election of Ramses O’Flaherty. I’d been swamped with business since then: side effect of being a famous detective, I guess. Anyway, I wasn’t taking cases. How could I, when it turned out that Ramses was just another conman, another murderer. And I was the one who’d given him the mayor’s seat. People had died for that election, had died because of me.

So I didn’t take cases any more. The office was just a place Rita bullied me into instead of my apartment, which had started to pile up with empty bottles.

 

JUNO: We're closed! Hey, I thought that door was locked.

 

DEIRDRE'S DRESS RINGS LIKE WIND-CHIMES AS SHE ENTERS.

 

DEIRDRE: I'm afraid it was. I've locked it again behind me. Does that count?

 

JUNO: No! Wait, don't I know you?

 

DEIRDRE: (Laughing) I'd be dreadfully insulted if you didn't, Detective.

 

MORE RINGING AS DEIRDRE WALKS.

 

JUNO: Deirdre Harris.

 

JUNO (NARRATOR): Deirdre Harris. The most famous dancer on Mars, the best singer this side of the galaxy, and the only fully human android ever created. She’d been flesh and blood once, just like the rest of us, until her apartment building burned down in what bigwigshad called a ‘tragic accident.’ Almost a year later, she’d reappeared on screen wearing a new body made out of sliding rings of gold. I’d dressed up like her once, for Halloween. Painted my whole face gold with Mom’s nail polish.

 

DEIRDRE: Juno Steel. May I sit?

 

JUNO: Well you already broke into the office, so. Why the hell not?

 

DEIRDRE: Thank you.

 

MORE RINGING.

 

DEIRDRE: I'm sorry to come by...after hours, Detective. It's just that I quite desperately need your help.

 

JUNO: You'll have to get in line.

 

DEIRDRE: If the line were any longer, Detective, it would go all the way around the planet.

 

JUNO: I guess I'm just busy these days.

 

DEIRDRE: Mmm, yes. After all that help you gave Ramses.

 

JUNO (STIFFLY): I think I'm too busy to help you, Miss Harris. If you could just lock the door again on your way out--

 

DEIRDRE (QUICKLY): Do you know who brought me back from the dead, Juno Steel?

 

JUNO: ...No. Miss Harris, I think you need to leave.

 

DEIRDRE: _Please_. Detective. I'm trying to stop them from creating monsters. I only chose you because--

 

JUNO: Because I've done such a great job stopping monsters before?

 

DEIRDRE: Because you have integrity. Something that's hard to come by in Hyperion City.

 

JUNO: (Laughs.) Integrity? Listen lady, you've got the wrong office. Hell, you've got the wrong planet. I don't have what you're looking for, and I'm not interested in taking the case, so get lost. Please.

 

DEIRDRE: If you're the kind of person who can stand back and let something horrible happen in your city, Mr. Steel, then you're not the one I want on the case anyway.

 

SHE STANDS TO GO, HER DRESS RINGING.

 

WE WAIT AN AGONIZING FEW SECONDS

 

JUNO: Goddamnit. Hold on just a second.

 

DEIRDRE: Yes?

 

JUNO: I'm going to need double my fee.

 

DEIRDRE: Done.

 

JUNO: And the whole truth behind this sob story.

 

DEIRDRE: Of course.

 

JUNO: And...(sniffs) yeah, and a new set of clothes.

 

DEIRDRE: (Laughs, relieved.) Detective, if I could, I'd give you the dress off my back.


End file.
